2007 Accomplishments

MAEDC successfully completed the close-out of the DIRECTV project in 2007. The Montana Department of Commerce awarded $890,000 to Missoula County from the Department’s Community Development Block Grant and Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund programs. Both of these grants required extensive reporting and documentation of compliance with program requirements. On behalf of the County, MAEDC provided the necessary information to the Department, including documentation of low and moderate income benefit as well as hiring and training activity. The company cooperated fully with this effort and in February MAEDC’s President/CEO presented an analysis of the economic development impact of the DIRECTV project to both House and Senate committees of the Montana Legislature. By mid-2007, the company had exceed the goal of creating 800 new jobs. Employment at their Missoula facility reached 1,200 and has remained stable at that level. With MAEDC assistance, the company also qualified for $1.9 million from the state’s new worker training program and received its first reimbursement from that program in 2007.

• MAEDC’s loan from the Community Reinvestment Fund, which was used to purchase property at the Missoula Development Park that was then leased back to EndoBiologics, Inc., was re-financed with a local bank. The new loan, in the amount of $1,125,000, also enabled MAEDC to provide new working capital to the early-stage bio-tech company. At year’s end, the company received notice that it would be included in a new vaccine initiative launched by the Gates Foundation.
• Work on the environmental clean-up of the Sawmill Site in the heart of Missoula began in 2007 and was nearly complete by the end of the year. MAEDC’s Brownfields RLF loan was increased to $1,125,000 to help meet additional clean-up costs. Final approval of the clean-up project is anticipated in 2008 and repayment of the RLF loan will begin. The developer plans to start redevelopment work in the summer of 2008. Working with the City of Missoula, MAEDC has applied for additional Brownfields RLF capital from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• The Montana Legislature increased funding for the New Working Training Program in 2007. A total of $8 million was authorized for the 08-09 biennium, an increase of about $6 million from funding level for the 06-07 biennium. Along with other economic development organizations in Montana, MAEDC testified before several Legislative committees in support of this increase. As a result of the new funding level, the Department of Commerce has been able to provide training assistance to more companies in Montana, including Missoula-based Watkins Shepard Trucking, Inc. and Chinook Wireless, which has major operations in both Missoula and Great Falls.
• Late in 2006, MAEDC facilitated the sale of the Nurture, Inc., to Corn Products International. Although MAEDC absorbed a loss on its loan, both the Community Reinvestment Fund and Missoula County were paid in full. The County’s CDBG Program Income Fund received $318,000 as a result of the sale, which then enabled the County to approve a $400,000 loan to a new Missoula company, Pioneer Drive, LLC, which will create at least 40 new good paying jobs in Montana through a partnership with Nissan.
• The Montana Department of Commerce renewed MAEDC’s designation as the Certified Regional Development Corporation for Missoula and Ravalli Counties in 2007.
• MonTEC, a business incubation facility managed by MAEDC, averaged close to 80% occupancy in 2007 and produced its first graduate company, GCS Research LLC. The company moved into MonTEC in 2005 with two employees. It graduated from MonTEC in December 2007 with 20 employees. The company specializes in geospatial analysis and software systems. MAEDC also helped the company launch a new project in partnership with S&K Electronics, located in Pablo on the Flathead Indian Reservation.